Overweight since childhood,I spent most of my 30's tipping the scales around 250lbs. At age 41 I took charge of feeding myself by preparing all of my own meals, no more fast foods! I created a way to use my love of cooking, food, and eating to permanently lose over 100lbs. During this time I discovered kettlebells and my own style of training The Kettlebell Swing, bringing out my inner athlete and erasing all signs of former lifelong obesity. It's never too late, YOU CAN DO IT!

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Finally! I don't know how many of you know how much time it takes to edit video, but it takes a lot of time! If I tape a 30-40 minute video, that means I have to watch it numerous times to figure out where and how to break it down...not that very many people care! And then I have to write the workout down! At least when I teach a group I only have to shout out orders! But here, on my blog, I include written routines.

How many people watch it or don't watch it, train along, or don't train along, is irrelevant to me, for me there is greater value to be able to evaluate my own training, see my form, remember the difficulty, or lack of, and archive it to advance my workouts. I'm more than happy to share, and I do hope it inspires others to follow along.

If you don't video tape your own workouts, then you are missing a very important piece of information that will help you coach yourself, and potentially make important corrections.

"I go you go" 400 snatch rep workout

One of the reasons it took me so long to edit and post this workout is because it did not come out the way I wanted it to! These workouts are hard! And I can't just "re-tape" my training over and over! These workouts are the real deal! I can't knock out hundreds of reps every single day until I get a video "just right"! The mistake I made here in this workout (to help followers) is that I let my training partners "go first" in an "I go, you go" workout, and for the purpose of watching and training along it would have been best for me to start the routine first, and then coach from that point. Also, I realize now that having one or both of them on camera with me would be the best....and that's why this mornings workout includes the two of them (oh, wait until you see today's workout!)

The other thing that would help is to count my training partners reps, and for them to count mine. But seriously, if you are working at this level you should be advanced enough to figure it out... That being said here it is. Keep in mind that in this first video I start with my first 5 sets after my partners did theirs. It takes me a few sets to realize that counting their reps is helpful, and having them count mine is also helpful....whew...ok, here it is....

"I go, you go"

1 sn, 1 tr x 20 x 5 sets (I did my first 4 sets with the 14kg, and my last set with the 16kg)

10/10 x 5 sets (I continued the rest of the workout with the 16kg, and if you are watching the video you will see my hands deteriorate as the workout progresses...ouch)

Friday, June 29, 2012

You don't have anything to prove to me, I trust you. I trust that you know what you are doing. I trust that you acknowledge that the world is not out to get you and that everything in your life is of your own creation. And I trust that you know that you can change your mind whenever you want to. You know you can change how you feel about anything at any time. Not a big deal.

Many times I hear people say how being fat sucked, or if they are still overweight how much it sucks! But I disagree...kind of. Sure the physical reality of carrying extra bodyweight can be a drag (literally), and there is nothing fun about many of the physical limitations and embarrassing, sometimes shameful, situations that come with obesity. But if we could eat all the foods we wanted to, all the time, and it did not create becoming fat we would, at least some of us would, probably a lot of us would! There is a joy to food and eating. Not a big deal.

Personally I had a great time not worrying about my weight. In fact I probably worry more about it now than I did when I was over 250lbs. I'm not saying that it was fun, being overweight, but I can remember plenty of times when I thought it was fun to over eat. I'm pretty sure I can honestly say that it felt like fun to eat a lot of the foods I used to. But then I changed my mind. Not a big deal.

I changed my mind when the fun of overeating put my life at risk. Seriously, if I wasn't afraid of cutting my wonderful life short I'd probably still be fat. I didn't lose weight to look good, or to prove anything to anybody, I lost weight to continue to have as much fun and happiness as I could. Fun and happiness is what feels good, being fat wasn't fun and it didn't make me happy. I started doing other things that made me feel happy. Eating less actually felt more fun. I always trusted that I knew what I had to do, and how to do it. Not a big deal.

So much of the time we make things so hard on ourselves. I see it and hear it all the time. So much pressure to be perfect, or "better than". When we see things this way it's easy to give up and do nothing, to quit before we start. Feeling as if losing weight is the start to a life long battle, or a fight we would have to face every day. Feeling desperate, feeling hopeless. Feeling like the best part of our lives has past, and it's too late. These feelings for sure are not happy or fun.

I met a woman yesterday who was probably close to 30 years old, small, shapely, "fit", she is a Pilates Instructor. She was asking me about kettlebells in regards to her best friend that weighed over 200lbs. During our conversation I made notice of the fact that she looked as if she had never been concerned about her own bodyweight, and that's when she calmly looked at me and said,

"Yes, but I take care of myself."

It wasn't what she said, but how she said it. Calmly. Matter of factly. As if she were telling me that her physique was not one of luck, it was one of consciousness. It wasn't one of stress, obsession and judgement, it was simply one of wanting to feel a certain way, and following through with actions that created that feeling.

Hmmm....I wonder.....could it be that simple? Can I just trust myself totake careof myself? Yes, I think I can. And I think you can too. Not a big deal.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

OK, I've decided that the Pinto is to beans what the swing is to kettlebells! So underrated!

Now that I'm tasting, really tasting, all these beans I'm convinced that so few of them stand on their own. It makes sense that we put a "smoked" piece of meat in our bean soups, and why so few varieties are available at our supermarkets. Because, although, maybe, nutritious (I'm still wondering just how nutritious), so far, and that's not very far, I'm a little un-impressed with the nuances, but now understand that the flavor categories have been decided by varieties most commonly available. Back to the under-rated Pinto.

It may be my Mexican roots, but Pinto beans rock! I ordered pintos from Rancho Gordo with the idea of comparing their "gourmet", "heirloom", "home grown", "organic", "whatever" high class bean to my own "Mi Pueblo's" ordinary, maybe under ordinary, super marker brand....but alas, I didn't have any supermarket pintos to compare. So I cooked up Rancho Gordo's batch thinking I would remember what "ordinary" supermarket pintos tasted like.....I was right!

Even without my supermarket "Western Family" cheap $.99 a bag of pintos I could taste the difference. Seriously. RG's pintos brought me back, maybe back to somewhere I've never been before, but these pinto beans touched something deep inside of my tastebud memory banks. At this point I'm not sure I even want to continue to collect more varieties for tasting. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

Pintos rock. Did I say that already? OK, there are many other beans that are "off the hook" too, and I wouldn't want to live without. Those Italian butter beans? Crazy good! Garbanzos? Crazy good! White navy beans...seriously crazy good. But all these others? fine. maybe crazy good, but at the end of the day?

I'll keep experimenting because it's fun! But in the mean time I'm going to give Pinto beans more respect!

As far as the black garbanzos....

Small, hard, took forever to cook, BUT interesting none the less. I made some bean dip, but I had to experiment with ingredients I had on hand. At first these beans were a big disappointment. Expensive and appearing to be nothing special. Not wanting to make hummus, I still took my cues from hummus. Beans, garlic. olive oil, nut or seed butter, lemon. Which is pretty much exactly what I did. Not quite right. If I would have thought of it I would have used the green tops of the scallions in the fridge for a "freshness" factor, but I forgot. I was wanting a fresh jalapeno or green chili....or parsley.

What I liked about the finished product was the black skin ended up speckeling the dip, making it look like it had small black sesame seeds in it. When I was putting it away I looked over on my kitchen counter and noticed a Japanese sweet potato! Hmmnn...roasted sweet potato, black garbanzos, green scallions. garlic. jalapeno, nut butter....could be a "win"! Next time!

10 2 hd sw x 4....this ends the workout, OR starts another rotation of 240 swings. (oh, and the batteries ran out on the Flip during this last set so I think you all can finish on your own!)12 min 240 swingstotal workout18 min 360 swingsThese one hand swing progressions are in a slightly different order. This order caters more to those of us still working on training one hand swings with a heavier bell, as the progressions increase the exposure to the asymmetrical loads of the one hand swing....here is why;starts with 2 hd sw (easy)next progression starts with 2 hand, drops to 1 hand swings (next easiest because it starts out balanced and symetrical before asymmetrically loading)switches every time, transfer swings (next easiest because we get to switch the load every rep)5/5 one hand sw R/L, harder10 one hand swing R/L, most difficult as it has the highest number rep count loaded asymmetrically

I should start a new series of workouts simply called "Bonus No-Brainers"! These are workouts that are really old school Tracyrif routines that use 3-6 sets, alternating in order, over and over until the allotted (or chosen) amount of training time has been met!

Yesterday after cruising through my morning class and training with a couple of my clients I needed just that little extra difficulty for my own piece of mind! So, armed with my trusty 16kg I knew I wanted to do a few hundred more swings, and a handful of squats. I had to be quiet so I apologize for the soft audio, I set the camera up during a busy time and really couldn't cater to a full production, but if you want to get in your few hundred swings and a handful of squats with me then here you go. Personally I repeated this rotation 5 times, and this video was my last go through.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Here is the intro to version 2 of last weeks Snatch-aholics 100 rep set workout. It's actually not 100 reps at a time, it's 20 reps at a time "I go, you go" style. It's going to take me a good time to edit the workout down from the 35 minute version, but it's coming.

All of the combinations are the same with the exception of the 25/25. I chose not to do that one because #1 I knew this workout was going to take longer, and technically it's done at "equal work/rest" intervals, depending on how fast your partner snatches! And #2 I knew I was going to train it with the 16kg, which wouldn't necessarily affect the workout except that even though I feel completely recovered, and on a scale of 1-10 it really wasn't "difficult" (I give it a 6-7), it was still intense. This one done with a heavier bell, much heavier, is a different kind of intensity and I'll save the 5th set for another time....no rush, I still have got to get back in the gym on Tuesday!

The only thing that tears up my hands is snatching fast. Combine the the thick handle of the 16kg with fast snatches and it's a recipe for some torn up hands. (ususally it happens after about 150+ snatch reps) I knew the danger going into the workout, and should have taped my hands before...lazy. I didn't use my sock sleeves when I train with the bigger handled bells because of the added bulk, although I do own various thicknesses of sock sleeves. I'll be writing more about this, but in the mean time if you are not familiar with what I use for my hands and how I came up with my own solution, here is the link to the original blog post from a few years back (yikes, maybe 5 years now?)

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

I wrote a short post on facebook about how yoga is not stretching. Of course you "stretch" during a yoga practice, but stretching is not the intention of yoga. That being said, if I did not practice yoga I'd be tighter that a drum....really, really bad I'm sure! I understand the appeal of joining a group or a class because there is no way I would "stretch" on my own, even though I've got the time and I've gotten rid of most of my living room furniture in exchange for padded mats over my hardwood floors!

A couple of weeks ago a fellow RKC Leslie Branham presented to her facebook family (friends and clients) the idea of making regular stretching a priority. Leslie decided that she was going to lead the way by practicing her splits again. This struck a chord with me as I had also recently decided that I needed to make stretching a bigger part of my routine.

I now spend 30 full minutes after my 90 minute Bikrams class to stretch. I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm cranky, I'm wet, and I've got many more excuses I could come up with....but none are more important than taking a measley 30 minutes when I'm already warmed up and I'm already on the floor!

Ankle flexibility and hamstring flexibility are the areas I could use the biggest improvements on so those are my main focus. To be honest I was surprised at how far a little effort goes and how fast I was able to close the gap in my splits (L) withing a couple of weeks. Now when I can get into them without a 104 degree 90 minute warm up, then I'll have something to be proud of. But right now I'm plenty proud and I know improvement, consistent improvement will be my reward.

Stretching is like any practice, like all training, the practice thrives with consistency and there is no finish line! I took Leslie up on her encouragement to stretch, but not just for to see who could get into splits first or for only 30 days! I told her I'd meet her back in 1 years time because the "challenge" is to establish the habits of good health. With good health, and that includes a healthy and supple body, we all "win".

Before pictures taken on 5/10/12, "so far" pictures taken this afternoon, 6/20/12.

I think I mentioned that Saturday was a "bean fest" at the Farmers' Market where I picked up 4 different varieties of "fresh dried" beans. I bought two packages of Blue Coco beans, one pkg each of Black Eyed Peas, Cranberry beans and Gila River beans. The Blue Coco beans I already know I love since I quickly cooked up the last ones I bought 3 weeks ago. The Black Eyed Peas I got in my CSA about 1 month ago from this same farm (Full Belly), and although I didn't find them to be more special than BEP I get from the market, I feel better knowing where the product is coming from and how old it is. The Cranberry beans also came from Full Belly, and the Gila River from Coke Farm, same as the Blue Coco....those were the most interesting to look at.

I've been wanting to start somewhat of a "Bean Journal" for a while now since I really have never taken the time to actually "taste" even the most popular supermarket varieties. The only reason I know anything about wine is because Mark and I used to (still do) side by side taste tests to see which wine we like better! It's very apparent when you taste them that way and at least with wine you can cross off the ones you don't like and start to collect the ones you do. I think it's the best way to learn your preferences, and how to pair different foods with one another. Back to beans...

I wanted to make two batches of soup/stew this morning, one lamb, one chicken, using my new beans! but which bean with which protein? Only one way to find out! I cooked up 1/2 of each in the PC (it took about 5 min) and pureed them before I did a side by side taste. The difference was obvious as to which I thought would pair best with both proteins.

The Gila River beans (pictured left) have a.....at first I wanted to say "milky" taste, and then I realized it was an "earthy creamy" taste and feel. 100%, no doubt, pairing with the lamb. The flavor was too strong for a mild chicken stew, but will hold it's own and add to the depth of lamb. And a bonus is that I think the look of the bean with it's darker purple-y color will be more complimentary with lamb.

The Cranberry beans are much milder, in fact similar to pinto, but in truth I over salted the small portion, and until I do a "side by side" with pintos I'll save permanent judgement. But what I could tell is that the bean would not clash with the chicken, and that was the intention of the experiment!

So, I guess I just started my Bean Journal!

PS If you ever watch cooking shows where Chefs are presented with ingredients they have never used before, they always taste them first! You have got to taste your foods to know what you prefer! (or your wines...or cheeses, heck everything!) I've written many times before that my taste palate is not that sophisticated, but it's all fun, and at the end of the day it's "just cooking"! I'm off to make some Lamb and Gila River Bean Stew!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Here is the email I sent out to my two training partners the night before:"I thought I'd warn you about the workout in the morning.

Five 100 rep snatch sets

1 rep x 100

2 rep x 50

5 reps x 20

10 reps x10

25 reps x 4 (or as many as you can do without a hand switch)

Not necessarily in this order by the way. Probably #1, #5, #2, #3, #4...or any order you want to do them. After a short warm up we will start each set every 7 minutes. That means you have 7 minutes for work and rest. For all, except the single rep set, this means that if you snatch at a 10 rep per 30 sec interval it will take 5 minutes to complete each set. The single rep set will be the longest because it also has 100 transfer swings!

The speed and weight is up to you. You can switch up either at any time."

How it actually went down?

Single reps, 1 snatch and 1 tr x 100. 5 min, 23 sec.

45/45, 20/10 = 120 freakin snatches! I totally lost count and thought I had snatched 35 reps before I had to switch. If I would have known I made it to 45 I would have absolutely continued on to 50 because it would not have been that difficult. But thinking I was only at 35, 15 more reps without a switch would have been a grind and there was no need to grind anything out, I had 3 more sets of 100 to do. So, thinking I had completed 35/35 = 70 I thought I had 40 more snatches to do...again, brain dead! Even if I did only complete 35/35 I only needed 15 per side...but miscalculating I did 20 R, when I realized after my two training partners finshed long before me that something was amiss...I took a chance and did only 10 more on my L knowing I had video to review what really happened! (I know, long story!) 3 min 20 sec I was done with 100 reps, 4 min 8 sec 120 reps.

2 x 50 This felt like a breeze. Love swings and although 100 sn/100 sw is a long set, 100 sn/50 swings was the most fun I had that day! In fact I was feeling so good I decided to increase my bell weight to the 14kg. 4 min 25 sec

10 x 10 w/14kg Whew! Now that was a test! I don't think I've ever tested 100 snatch reps with the 14 before? I love that feeling of being challenged but not trashed! 3 min 36 sec respectively.

5 x 20 w/14kg Hated this set and glad I did it at the same time! (update...recounting this set I realized I put the bell down at 90 reps! boo hoo! But I did do an extra 20 in the second set!) 3 min 23 sec, 90 reps...another 20-25 sec I could have done the extra 10.

I've done this workout before, but by myself after a swing class to get as many snatches down in the shortest amount of time possible! BUT I started 25 reps x 4, then down to 10 reps x 10, 5 reps x 20 and 2 reps x 50...at this time I knew singles were going to take the longest and to be honest, after 45 minutes of swings, and 400 snatches down, the thought af another 100 snatches AND swings was too much for me...that day, I stuck with 10's for my last set to 500!

So this time, even though this was my first training of the day and I was fresh, my own personal plan was to still start with my single reps first because I knew it had the most amount of reps total (200). Next I would try and snatch as many reps as possible without a hand switch. So for instance if I snatched 30 first, I would have to repeat 30 on the opposite side leaving me with 40 more reps to equal my 100, splitting between R/L 20 more reps each. (or 25 x 4). Third...hmmm...well from experience 5's are next when it comes to torture! For some reason 5's seem to take twice as long in time and effort that 10's even though technically there are only 10 more reps (transfer swings). To me 5's are worse that 2's! But I mean that in a good way, of course!

Now on to swings....but wait there was more!

I repeated most of this workout an hour later in my third class for another 400 snatch reps. If you are not training at this level yet, heck, even if you are, I have another version that will help get you here, or just another fun way to snatch 100's of reps. I'll video tape it tomorrow and post it this week. In this other version I break each snatch combination into sets of 20...you'll see! (It took us about 45 min)

900 snatches, (720 w/12kg, 190 w/14kg with "official miscounts)

PS if you are having difficulty watching the last video you can view it on Youtube

Sunday, June 17, 2012

If ever I doubted Summer has arrived, my resistance to letting go of another nonexistent Spring had to be put to rest with the arrival of 4 things all in the same day at the Farmers' Market yesterday.

#1 91 degree temperatures#2 corn#3 tomatoes#4 apricots!

I love cooked fruit, and in most previous years I've had a ton of fun poaching fruits in wine using my pressure cooker, and making chutneys both sweet and savory with every kind of fruit from apples, kiwi and guava, cherries, blueberries, peaches and pears to figs. Is there a fruit you can't cook? Hmm..probably but who cares! The one time I bought bananas, I bought them to make banana chutney! Since I don't make pies (notice I didn't say I didn't eat pies!) I enjoy cooked fruit mostly in my yogurt, or as a spread with cheese and/or pate. In fact I probably have some fig chutney in the freezer as I write this.

I have yet to cook any fruit so far, except to use my microwave! There, I admit it! I've been blasting already super soft ripe fruits like strawberries and blueberries, and now apricots in the microwave until they are hot and gooey! Maybe a drizzle of maple syrup or a sprinkle of brown sugar, mixed with plain yogurt and a squeeze of lime....gotta put a squeeze of lime on everything these days

If eating seasonally is important to you, then paying attention to the handful of foods that really are available for maybe only a few weeks, and personally apricots top my list! I never understood why anyone could get "tired" of eating apricots during their short appearance. If you ate them everyday that would mean barely two weeks of apricots! Why doesn't anyone get tired of strawberries? For goodness sake, there's not a day that doesn't go by, all year round, that I don't see someone buying strawberries! Skip the strawberries for 1 1/2 weeks and enjoy the apricots while we have them!

My affinity for fruit may come from my native roots here in Northern California's Santa Clara Valley. Here I grew up surrounded by orchards and lived many years in a home with an apricot tree right in our front yard! Prunes, grapes and apricots were some of this areas major crops, but rare is it now to see an apricot tree in a front yard : (

FYI Apricots have 17 calories per small fruit...small fruit! There are 8 large apricots in this picture weighing a total of 12 oz! That calculates out to about 160 calories. Know what you are eating! Just because it may be organic, seasonal, fresh, homegrown, farm raised, pasture picked, super healthy doesn't mean it's calorie free!

Last weekend in San Clemente I met Roland and Galya Denzel who attended my swing workshop. The two of them not only live a lifestyle that includes kettlebells and healthy nutrition, but it's Gayla's business as well.

To me one of the best parts about this review is that it comes from a woman that doesn't need to lose weight! And not only that, but Galya is a committed athlete and former ballet dancer.

Training the swing has value, tremendous value for everybody, it's not just about weight loss!

Check out the rest of her blog too! This picture above Galya is swinging a kettlebell known as a "GS" bell. "GS" stands for "Girya Sport". GS is the sport of competing the snatch and jerk for reps and time. I love the "swings" in the background too!

Friday, June 15, 2012

I really believe that everything we do, we do out of habit. Everything from the actions we take, or don't take, to how we think about the actions we take or don't take! If and when I do something opposite to how I think, and/or feel, I should, I remind myself that it's just a habit I am in complete decision about changing if I want to.

Some of the "eating" and "thinking" habits that occasionally pop up is deciding to eat foods I don't really want to because:

#1 I don't want to "waste" them.
#2 Nutritionally speaking they are healthy, like beets. And if they are pretty like this variety of Chioggia beets, then they are less irresistible!

So what's wrong beets, or eating beets? Nothing, of course. And since I rarely chose to buy beets, therefore I rarely waste them. I don't buy beets because I find, for me personally, beets don't digest well, I put them in the same category as potatoes and butternut squash, and I try and avoid eating them....I already know this from keeping a food journal. Sometimes I'm more successful than other times, but unlike butternut squash I don't like the taste of beets (or potatoes) enough to eat them solely for nutritional reasons. So why do I have them? Because for some reason this world has an overabundance of beets! Seriously, I get them in my CSA all the time, yet I can't remember, for the life of me, one person who answers the following question:

"What did you have for dinner? (or lunch)"

"Beets! And they were delicious!"

Who the heck is eating all of these beets? I'm not saying that I haven't enjoyed roasted baby beets (greens and all) occasionally, or a raw beet salad (like the one I'm making with these), but really? There are always a ton of beets at the markets and the Farmers Markets!

Do you buy beets regularly? And if so what, besides putting them in a salad are you doing with them?

PS My favorite "greens" are in fact beet green! And if I buy beets I'll only buy them if the greens attached are huge and fresh. I always end up putting the root in my fridge to use another time, only to end up throwing them away after a couple of weeks :(

A few weeks ago I was contacted by William Allen about writing a guest blog post for his new website http://transformationpics.com/. Williams motivation to start this new website was his, and his wife Rhonda's, own successful transformations! While William's own life brought him to start changing his habits of being overweight, and less healthy, he started to look for other stories, successful stories, of change. And that's when, years ago, he originally came across Mark's and my blogs, journaling our kettlebell training. Although he found us, and a few others, he noticed a lacking of more examples, but he must of felt sure they were out there and became set out to find them! And he has, and is posting extraordinary stories of people, regular people, like you and me living new lives that reflect not only health, but well being!

In my opinion two of the most important motivators are "success" and "hope"...not sure what comes first! But I'll be writing more about that again soon. In the mean time here is a copy of the post I wrote for William and his readers, but please if more about this subject is of interest to you then visit his website and leave comments of support: http://transformationpics.com/2012/06/06/tracy-lbs-lost-120lbs/

"Transformation is really the key word here used in the title
of this website. Weight loss stories
come a dime a dozen, and quickly forgotten, maybe because few are lasting. This doesn’t have to be the case, and in fact
I want to be part of changing that stereotype.
I could share my history of past “struggles”, sad and unfortunate
stories, or analogies about how I ended
up a fat, overweight, obese, a binge eater, or whatever words you want to use
to describe what I looked like or how I acted, but wouldn’t that also be
supporting the the stereotype? It’s
almost expected to hear stories of becoming overweight and staying overweight
because of life’s hardships. C’mon,
we’re smarter than that and capable of so much more. And here on this website you see many
examples.

At 41 years old I had started to experience symptoms of some
potentially serious health problems and to put it in simple words I wasn’t
ready to die yet. January 2005, at
250lbs plus, I set out to get skinny.
And once I put my mind to it I knew without a doubt I was going to lose
100lbs but what would happen next I could never imagine. First things first though…I stopped doing
what was making me fat! I knew what it
was for me, and I believe you know what it is for you, so stop it! Harder than it sounds? It’s only hard if you decide it’s hard.

During this time I was married to a lifelong competitive
athlete, coach and personal trainer, and it was my husband Mark who taught me
relatively new form of exercise and training, now becoming more mainstream,
using Russian kettlebells. In our garage
gym, Mark taught me the one basic, foundational kettlebell movement, the swing,
and told me to “just do a couple sets of 10 (reps)”. Reluctantly I swung that darn thing because I
knew I had to do some sort of weight resistance exercise to try and build
muscle tone for my quickly shrinking body.
During these workouts, alone in my garage gym, I started to choreograph
kettlebell swing routines to entertain myself, and unbeknownst while doing so, I
was transforming myself from “former fat girl just trying to get skinny” to
future “Queen of the Kettlebell Swing” while practicing 100’s and 100’s of
swing reps! But something more amazing
was taking shape! An athletic, strong,
firm and shapely body was materializing right in front of my eyes and I knew it
was a result of training the kettlebell swing.

April 2006, I earned my RKC (Russian kettlebell
Certification to teach). I stood in
front of a group of maybe 50 men with history in the military, law enforcement,
weight lifting sports and martial arts to name a few, telling my story of 120lb
weightloss, and how I used kettlebells as my main form of exercise to help
me. I was 42, 130lbs, 17% bodyfat and
looked as if I never carried an extra pound on my body. No one could believe I ever weighed over
250lbs. It was this physical
transformation that landed me with my story of how I trained the kettlebell
swing a starring role in New York Times Best Seller, “The 4 Hour body” by Timothy
Ferris, and then the starting role in
my own book, published by Harper One, “The Swing”.

But I’m not writing this story to sell you on kettlebells or
my book. I’m writing this story to sell
you on the possibilities of rediscovering living to your physical
potential. It may be training
kettlebells, it may be Zumba, it may be running a marathon, whatever it is, success is waiting for you. It’s not too late,
you are never too old, too fat, too “out of shape”. Don’t settle for skinny, go for the
gold! Many times people have said to me
that I’m the exception, not the rule, and I say that rules were made to be
broken! Let’s make my story, and your
story, the “rule” because we can change it, we can! Realizing we can change it permanently and
forever gives us hope, and hope gives us belief…..the first steps to lasting
transformation. We can do it! You can do
it!"

If you have your own successful transformation story I'm sure William is wanting to hear from you too!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Which one of these snacks has more calories per serving? (sorry for the bad picture) Trader Joes-San "Crispy Green Beans", or TJ's Caramel Corn? I think you would be surprised to find out the green bean snack has more calories! For a mere 3/4 c., the green beans have 130 cal. and the caramel corn has 120 cal. Oh...but who eats 3/4 c.?

These bags are relatively small...seriously, the look as if they are "2 serving" size bags, but there are 4 servings in the Crispy Green bean pkg. That equals out to 520 calories if you ate the whole small bag. Five servings in the caramel corn, 600 cal for the whole small bag.

Many times we try and "stave off" hunger until our next meal and we grab a handful of this, or a handful of that. We are allowed to eat if we are hungry! The habit we want to establish is to eat nutritious foods, not the habit of seeing how long we can resist nutritious foods!

This is one of the reasons I discourage "chips" of any kind, especially "chips" that disguise themselves as "healthy". Green beans, right? Wrong!

I know I included staying out of bakeries or the bakery isle of stores, but if I had to cross one entire store off the list it would be Trader Joe's as a whole....more to come...

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

I had an incredibly awesome time with Gabby's North Beach Kettlebellers in San Clemente this past weekend...more to come. I posted out warm up video on my FB fan page...I'll be back later with more details!

Friday, June 8, 2012

I designed this workout yesterday just for those of you new, or relatively new to "The Swing". It's a full length "On the Minute" workout (26 minutes long!), where I coach you through scaling the workloads to your own individual skill and abilities. Although designed for beginners, you will see how challenging it is for every level!

You can see the large range of swing reps. Throughout this video I give you all options to scale the workloads to your own ability, especially in Part 2. Maybe Part 2 is where you start out? I love this workout and it's sure to become one of my classic routines.

PS "Swing weight bell" means a kettlebell that you currently working towards swinging 40 continuous reps, or one that you know you can swing for 40 reps (1 minute).

Mark and I are only going to San Diego overnight, and although I know there are numerous good choices for meals I can't help but pack my lunch...it's just left overs! I find that if I pack small meals/foods in the deli containers I buy my peanut butter in I can "get away" with passing through security easier. Maybe because it looks like "purchased food"? In fact I'm going to try and take a serving of oats/feta..yikes! If they make me throw it away it was worth trying!

Leftover rib eye, grilled asparagus, soft boiled eggs, peanut butter raisins, carrot/celery, blueberries, toasted almonds (I'll buy some plain yogurt when I get there), steel cut oats/feta....I think that's it! Maybe some of those butter beans I cooked yesterday...oh and a "real" spoon" and some kosher salt! I still don't know what I'm going to wear yet, but first things first, this took me 15 minutes, at the most, to throw together!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

You would think with the arrival of summer I'd be eating salads, not soups! But now that I've discovered "fresh" dried beans at my FM (mail order is also an option) I'm hooked....and it couldn't be easier using a pressure cooker. I just scored two 1lb bags of large Italian butter beans, just in time because I already used my only other 1lb bag of Blue Coke beans I bought last weekend.

I can't believe how simple, fast and easy, I didn't even saute the veggies!

greens to cook in residual heat (kale and collards take longer than chard or spinach, and in fact I put the lid back on for 20 min to keep the heat in)pre cooked meat (see below)

You can brown the meat first, and then continute on with the recipe as written above, only you would cook everything together for as long as it takes the meat to cook. 12-15 min for chicken (no boneless breasts please), or beef / lamb/ pork stew meat. If the stew meat is cut into small pieces then the same amount of time 15 min, if using one large piece then 25-35 min...which may overcook your beans, fyi (which is why I use the following method)

I admit I take the extra step of making my stock first because I like to strain it (it's a prettier soup, less cloudy). The other benefit is that you can remove the fat if you use a gravy separator, or put it in the fridge overnight and remove the hardened fat the next day. Personally I don't remove the fat to remove the all the fat! But I never use "lean" cuts of meat so there is always fat left in the meat, and although fat is not the enemy, you don't want a soup or stew swimming in fat!

I pressure cook my chicken (leg/thigh seperated from whole breast left on the bone.) or a big, bone in, hunk of pork shoulder butt (2 1/2-3 lb)12 min for chicken, 25 min for pork, AFTER pressure come to high. I then release the pressure and fish out my meat. Let it cool until I can shred it from the bones and set aside. Replace the bones back in the stock, add leftover onion, celery and carrot pieces I keep stored in my freezer, and cook it on high pressure for an additional 25 min or so, again manually release pressure and strain through a clean towel. (If I want to use the stock right away I pour it into a large gravy separator) Now I have rich stock and pre cooked meat protein to put back in my soup or to use in a salad.

Really it takes no prep time, it only takes cooking time, and since I'm in the habit it's easy and I could never go back to using canned stocks or broths. I prepare my stock as I'm doing other things around the house or kitchen and then continue on to make my soup, which takes less that 30 minutes with the stock and the meat already done. Most batches of soup make at least 3 qts, plenty to eat for a few days and a couple of containers for the freezer.

Since Mark and I are leaving for San Diego tomorrow and I know I can't take soup with me (Federal regulations) I ended up eating soup for lunch twice and dinner once! The rest will be here waiting for me on Sunday, and some will go into the freezer. And still I can't wait to make more!

Monday, June 4, 2012

I hope you have been practicing those one hand swing combinations! If not here I'll take you through them while we train them! If you are not comfortable with your one hand swing skill then you can use all two hand swings for any or all of this workout.

A "Plus 50%" workout is technically when you increase the rep count by 50% without additional rest, but in this version I kept all work and rest periods "equal" with the idea of first increasing the ability to swing 50% more reps. The next version takes those extra 50% rep counts into the rest period...but start here first!

Ok ,so looks like I'm finished with my quittata phase, back to soup. The two things both have in common is that you can use anything and everything that may be left over in the fridge at the end of your week! (even lettuce!)
I had two bunches of asparagus...one I have to admit was from the previous week! (yikes) Last Thursday I poached a chicken and shredded the meat, and then made chicken stock from the bones...hmm...asparagus, chicken...what else? Fresh peas included in my CSA box, maybe a little lemon....time to look up some recipes as guidelines. Here is the one I found as a base to start with.

Recipes don't have to be exact. What I liked about this one was that it has my two key ingredients, asparagus and lemon. I liked the idea of adding barley, if I wanted to, but the best part was that this recipe suggested using eggs to thicken the soup! Great! Exactly what I was thinking because I don't like using potato or cream to thicken veg soups.

I would have taken a picture of my finished soup but it's not yet "picture ready", lol! I made a couple of mistakes, but nothing that I won't fix this next time...yes, there will be a next time, and soon! It was still yummy, just not pretty!

In my version:

I did not steam the asparagus separately, I sauteed onion and celery, added my asparagus and stock, then used a pressure cooker because I wanted it done in about 10 minutes! That was probably too long! I cut the asparagus pretty small and after 8 minutes at high pressure it was, for sure, done!

I did not add barley. (this ingredient is obviously not "slow carb friendly") I did not add it because I knew the barley would take longer than the asparagus, and although I managed to obliterate it enough, 25 minutes to cook barley with the veg would have been overkill! Also, I knew I wanted to use an immersion blender to puree.

I did in fact use an immersion blender to puree. Tempered my 2 eggs with hot soup before adding to the rest of the pot. And then....

I thought I would "cook" the peas and asparagus tips in the residual heat of the soup but the soup had cooled down too much to cook them so I did what I knew was a mistake, but I had no choice unless I wanted to eat hard peas and asparagus tips....

"Heat gently but do not let liquid boil."

Even though I know better I decided to ignore this last instruction! Never boil soup or sauce that has been thickened with eggs....why not? Scrambled eggs, that's why!

Tiny ribbons of egg spoiled the look of the soup, but not really the taste....obviously because Mark and I both ate it, and happily so!

Here is how I will make it next time.

butter/oilLeeks/green onionceleryasparagusstock

(maybe a handful of spinach added before blending to deepen the green color)

Saute onion and celery, add asparagus and stock, bring pressure to high and cook for 4-6 min. Blend with an immersion blender. Remove 1-2 cups of soup to temper eggs. In the mean time bring remaining soup back to a boil and add asparagus tips (if you kept them separate until the end, like me) and cook until soft. Add back in soup thickened with eggs. Squeeze of lemon, shredded chicken and cooked barley. (I'll cook some in the PC ahead of time)

PS I arrange my own daily nutrition with a low percentage of complex carbs although I am not following the "Slow Carb Diet". But I know a lot of you do, and of course I respect the concept of this diet. With or without the barley I think this recipe, or one based on the flavors is a nutritional winner!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

It's Sunday morning and I actually feel good enough to consider practicing yoga today even though it's supposed to be a day off...ok, I'll take the day off from yoga (see how easy that was to talk myself out of it!) I should at least take a nice long walk, and I will probably do that, but should I stop by my neighborhood farmers market too?

I don't need anything in fact I have plenty of foods that still need some attention... It's just that I love shopping so much! Food shopping especially. I go to the market at least 5-6 days a week, and lots of times I talk myself out of even more small trips for things I could live without.

For instance my neighborhood Farmers' Market has duck and pheasant eggs. Do I need them? Not really. They have great strawberries. Well, I know I don't need 4 lbs, but can I live the week without any? Probably. There are great prices on all kinds of fresh produce but do I need more today? Ok, so I'll make this deal with myself....I'll clean out my fridge, take inventory, and if I do in fact actually need some things I'll go! Better get started!

But on a more serious note....

We all buy way too much food! It's a subject I want to write more about, but first the fridge!

Here is a quick workout based on my method I call "Give and Take". I created this workout originally as a way to challenge a class that had beginner and intermediate level kettlebellers (Fawn's word and I'm stealing it, lol).

If you are still doing OTM workouts ("on the minute") then this one is easily scaled to challenge you but not kill you! If your conditioning is already at "equal work to rest" then this one is perfect for you. If your level is advanced, more work to rest then use a heavier bell for the first, the second or both parts of the double set....or better yet use double bells!

Each work set is technically a "double set" that starts on the minute and on the "30 sec". The first half increases in reps, the second half decreases in rep, always totaling 20 reps per 1 minute. If you are still working on increasing your cardio conditioning training the second half of each double set is optional.

10/1012/8 14/616/4(starting to get the pattern?)18/220 reps

6 min., 120 swings per rotation (take as much rest as you need in between rotations)

Want more? Here is the very first time I did this workout in "quarter" time. Each double set starts on the 30 seconds, which means it's broken down into 15 second intervals! Each double set equals a total of 10 reps per 30 sec....you may just see this one in San Clemente! Loved it and I'll be using it in classes this morning!

5/56/47/38/29/110

3 min 60 swings per rotation (take as much rest as you need in between rotations)

Friday, June 1, 2012

So, it's been about 2 weeks, hasn't it? I wanted to share with you how these "rules", how this list started.

Most of the people I meet and talk with about weightloss know exactly what is making or keeping them fat. Most know if the are ready or not ready to change those things and are honest about it. I, myself, knew for years that I was not ready until I was! No big deal if you are not...unless you are asking me for my advice, or my help. Which is how this started.

As I mentioned most people admit they know what is making or keeping them fat, and then we have the other ones! There is anther group that really believes they have no idea how this is happening to them. It's as if the "Fat Fairy" has tapped them on the shoulder with her wand and magically made them fat. I get exhausted with this attitude! So after the last person asked me for some help I laid down these "rules" and told her to email me in two weeks!

These "rules" were simply the first thoughts that came to me, and I know in my personal experience that cutting these things out completely, was not a hardship in anyway. In fact I could make the list longer! The intention of excluding the things on this list is to:

#1 Bring awareness that you are not a victim of the Fat Fairy.
#2 Start to open and expand other food choices and possibilities.
#3 Change the habits that may be causing, or at least supporting, you to be overweight.
#4 Help you gauge whether ot not you are ready.

I'll finish up the rest of my reasons for the foods included (or should I say excluded) at the end of this list in one fell swoop and without much explaination because at the end of the day you eat what you want.

No bags of chips. Promotes mindless snacking......if you are hungry eat a meal. Chips are starchy vegetables full of salt, oil and if they don't have these ingredients then God only knows what else is in them, or on them to make them taste good. I don't care what kind of chips even if you buy them at Whole Foods, cross them off the list.

No rice cakes. How old school are you? If you don't buy rice cakes when you are not on a diet, don't buy them now! They weren't worth eating then and nothing has changed! Rice cakes became popular during the "no fat" dieting era and that's over and done with. Fat does not make you fat, but carbs do! No cardboard cakes...I mean, rice cakes.

No hummus. Hummus is not all that healthy when you overeat it! It's loaded with calories because it's primarily beans and tahini (seed paste, aka, oil/fat) which is why it tastes so good, and why you are more likely to eat more than one, or two servings. That small container you buy is not a single serving size! Hummus is not "bad", but you won't die if you cross it off the list.

No bananas. Bananas are to fruit what potatoes are to vegetables. Starchy, dense, and highly concentrated in sugar. I know I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but the most common fruit choice of the overweight is bananas. Coincidence? Get out of the habit of making choices that contribute to being overweight. I'm not saying that thin people don't eat bananas, but don't get upset, just try something else for a while. At least I didn't include mangos....this time. (#2 on the no-no list! If mango was your second choice, coincidence? just sayin')

No bagels. Bagels are not healthy donuts! Most bagels pack a whopping 400 calories each! Have a bowl of oats instead...or two bowls of oats!

You don't want what you don't see......

No criusing of bakeries / sections, candy or ice cream isle!

And keep up on your journal!

No body has to agree to any of this. These are some of the "rules" I incorporated into my new life, and many of them still apply.

Since losing 120lbs I had McDonald's, or should I say "tried" to have McD's one time, and only out of curiosity. After more than 3 years I drove thru, ordered my former beloved cheeseburgers and practically spit my first bite out because it was so dry. I threw it all out and have never once thought about going back.

I didn't eat my first "bar" until two Novembers ago at Hardstyle Ventura (caught without another choice), and have since had maybe 3 or 4, and only surrounding events like RKC Certs where I'm surrounded by people eating bars (and for the right reasons I might add, which is why I had my first one at HSV)

I probably would have never had chips either if I didn't hang out with Fawn Friday! Little Miss Corn Chips! Not a choice I would make on my own, but I always eat chips when I'm around Fawn. But I'm not even tempted by a rice cake!

I never buy bananas except one time. You know those cute little baby bananas? Well, they are hella cheap at Asian markets and I bought some once thinking I would make some banana chutney of some sort. I didn't, and they went to waste.

I will eat a donut before I eat a bagel....kidding, but neither one is ever a choice I make.

I'm not trying to come across as some sort of saint. BUT, I got out of the habits of buying and eating these foods, and I'm a healthier, and smaller person, I believe, because of it. I only know what has worked for me. When, and if, I recognize a habit that supports causing something I don't want as part of my life any more, or something I want to change, I think about establishing a new habit that helps me feel and look the way I see myself and my life. That's all.

About Me

I'm currently having the time of my life living and writing about food, diet, training and exercise. I'm happy, confident and strong. I'm proud of my 25 year marriage, my husband, my two boys, and myself!
I don't know quite what the future holds for me, but I'm all about making my life easier, not harder....I'm done with doing things the hard way!